Generative Art Timeline · Chapter 4: Digital Era (1960s)
1964
First Piece of Computer Art Criticism by Arnold Rockman and Leslie Mezei

Arnold Rockman, art critic, and Leslie Mezei, computer scientist, together wrote: “the first recognizable piece of computer art criticism. Appearing in Canadian Art and entitled “The Electronic Computer as an Artist.” This seminal article possessed all of the basic elements of art criticism: historical context, stylistic analysis, and, most importantly, evaluative judgment,” according to Grant Taylor. Note from the title of the article, “The Electronic Computer as an Artist,” how even the earliest forms of computer art asked questions about authorship and the computer’s creative role.
Text by Peter Bauman. Generative Art Timeline, Le Random, fact-checked September 2026.
Sources
- Taylor, Grant D. When the Machine Made Art: The Troubled History of Computer Art, 26. New York: Bloomsbury Academic, 2014.
People
Movements
computer art
Filed under
- Ideas
- art criticism, authorship, creativity
- Technologies
- computer art
- People
- Arnold Rockman, Grant Taylor
- Works
- The Electronic Computer as an Artist
- Organisations
- Canadian Art
- Places
- Canada
- Other subjects
- Mezei
Related moments
Echoes across time
- 1983 · Portrait of the Artist As a Young Computer by Grace Glueck
- 2014 · Ten Questions Concerning Generative Computer Art by McCormack et al.
- 1987 · Digital Visions by Cynthia Goodman
Le Random editorials
Le Random podcast
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt I (1960s) with Dr A Michael Noll — listen with transcript on Le Random (07 Sep 2023, 60 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify
- Timeline Ch 4—Digital Era Pt II (1960s) with Michael Spalter — listen with transcript on Le Random (21 Sep 2023, 77 min). Chapter 4’s episode. Apple Podcasts · Spotify